[MaxCast]

Has anyone tried making their own power cords?

I have found you usually have to braid yourself or select one of the "audiophile approved" cables out there.  Then to decide on shielding.   100% shielding for digital ac cables and your preference on shielded or non-shielded for analogue.

Then you have to decide on plugs.  Those IEC female ends are only made by a few companies where as you have a bit more trouble selecting the male end because more mfgs. make them.

Buying locally is just about out of the question as the female ends are no where to be found and the spec/hospital grade ends few and far between too.

Hubble, Cooper, Wattgate, Marinco, Pass and Seymour, Schurtter, Leviton.  Beldon, Carol Cable, Volex.  I know synergy is the easy answer but very time consuming.  So I figure I have to start some where so hence the question.
My needs:
AC for digital, 3 feet long.
AC for Amp, 1 foot long.
AC for surround amps, 7 feet long X 2.

Recepies you have tried?  Sources?  Etc.

[JoshK]

I am making power cords as we speak.  I pretty much followed the VH recipe which was very clearly stated on AA.  I used silver plated copper ala Apex Jr, star quad geometry, unshielded and I am using Furutech FI20MG connectors.  We'll see how they fair when they are burned in. They aren't too expensive to make.

[TheChairGuy]

I've built a three different designs (I don't solder so this one I can do DIY), but neither sounded as good as LAT International's AC-2 cord (10ga, silverfuse copper/silver, Marinco connectors, fully shielded, 6').  

Material cost was about $40 for the cords I made + a couple hours labor time...I didn't judge it worthwhile as the $120 LAT cord just trounced them.

Maybe your or JoshK's results will be different tho.  I got enough projects without adding less effective, but cheaper DIY power cords to my system.

[ABEX]

I will be doing experiments with Silver and Copper over the next year testing designs. I asked what it would cost in silver for something like 9ga. and the cost is well over $200 for the amount I need.

If it's pure Ag then it gets pricey,but it is worth it as a PC involving pure Ag would go for $1K+.

I guess the best thing to do is get 3 different types of wire and 3-5 different designs and go with what sounds best.Atleast that is how I do my experiments. Usually works out good.

Abex

[Ferdi]

Hi, I have made my own cables as well.

Same issues with IEC. I bought what I could get locally and ended up soldering the leads to the connector. The wall-end is a bit easier. I can buy quite a few different plugs in the local equivalent (well, closest equivalent anyway) of Home Depot.

On my CDP, that had a fixed 220V connection, I went for Neutrik Powercon, rather than IEC and have not regretted it. This is a bajonet connector.

For the wire, I have used 2 varieties:
- Closely shielded 3x2.5mm^2 copper cable. I use this for digital and have used this for my pre as well.
- 3+3 braid of 2.5mm^2 installation wire (like that used in the Stan Warren recepies) for 7.5mm^2 each for live and neutral. This ends up being unshielded but I like it a lot for my Stratos and have one on my Purist as well. This was part of a fairly big reshuffle of my system so not sure if any improvement is from this. It works well though. For this recipe, I also use ferrites on both ends of the cable.

Pictures of my current cables can be found in the gallery, I hope. Just took a look and could not find my earlier postings. Hmmmm.

In the quest for further improvements, I have ordered some Marinco IEC from Partsexpress and some 220V gold-plated Euro-standard wall plugs from www.hifi-tuning.com. Will keep you updated.

One other site that has quite a bit of information on cables is www.platenspeler.com The main site is in dutch but the DIY section is in english as well.

Groeten,

Ferdi

[satfrat]

Has anyone tried making their own power cords?

I have found you usually have to braid yourself or select one of the "audiophile approved" cables out there.  Then to decide on shielding.   100% shielding for digital ac cables and your preference on shielded or non-shielded for analogue.

Then you have to decide on plugs.  Those IEC female ends are only made by a few companies where as you have a bit more trouble selecting the male end because more mfgs. make them.

Buying locally is just about out of  ...

                          Hi, here's a suggestion for ya. I have most all my power cords ready made from Chris VenHaus at www.venhaus1.com but Chris not only has the recipes for all his "flavors" of cables per application but sells the individual parts for the DIY including upgraded terminations for those who want just a little bit more performance. I have no problem recommending Chris's recipes as I know from personal experience that they do make a positive improvement in both audio & video and Chris is real good to work with if you have any problems. Go take a look-see, he has a very interesting site. Regards, Robin

[Juan R]

I agree with  Satfrat, I do not have CV power cord but I did balanced IC with his recipe, and I still very impress.

[MaxCast]

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys.  I have been to Chris' site and like the fact that he supports DIY so well.

It amazes me that buy the time you add up all the DIY you are pretty close to what you can buy pre-built cables for.  Especially if you have to order from two or three sites and add in shipping.  Oh yeah, the fun factor....

I will probably try two to three recipies and give them a shot.  I found one recipie that uses four runs of THHN wire but lost the link.  That would have been a cheapie for sure.  I think Stan Warren uses this wire a lot.  I'm in no big hurry so I have some more researching to do.

Later,

[MaxCast]

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys.  I have been to Chris' site and like the fact that he supports DIY so well.

It amazes me that buy the time you add up all the DIY you are pretty close to what you can buy pre-built cables for.  Especially if you have to order from two or three sites and add in shipping.  Oh yeah, the fun factor....

I will probably try two to three recipies and give them a shot.  I found one recipie that uses four runs of THHN wire but lost the link.  That would have been a cheapie for sure.  I think Stan Warren uses this wire a lot.  I'm in no big hurry so I have some more researching to do.

Later,

[elektratig]

Although I make my own RCAs and speaker cables, I've decided that life is too short, and the cost differential too small, to go crazy making my own power cords.  To each his own!

Tempest Sub Construction Pix: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=130

[calsaint]

Maxcast:
I think you're referring to the Alan Maher recipe that was a hot item a year or so back on aa. I just did a google search, and one site that has the recipe is http://www.downinfrontht.com/pages/diy_braided_power_cord.htm

I made one for each of my amps as I'm not big on shelling out $$$ for wire. One of these days I may compare them to something boutique, but I'm trying to keep my personal audio disease confined to the diy realm, with slight transgressions into decent tubes.

[MaxCast]

That is the one, calsaint.
Thanks for the link

[Carlman]

I made all my power cords using Ernie's Belden 83802, the kit is now called 'PCK12+G'  I paid about $39 per cord a year ago.  I have found that the male AC plugs are so-so and replaced them with Marinco's and heard a positive difference.

Overall, I heard a major improvement on my preamp... better midrange especially.  The amp improved in gusto and I didn't notice any change on the transport.  The DAC improved in extension and body.

Parts Express sells Marinco and Wattgate last I checked.  I would also think that if you braided some THNN wire, used some copper flex around the bundle, and then covered that with techflex, you'd have some nice PC's as well.

In any case, I recommend Ernie's PC's for bang for the buck and as a good starting point to learning how to make them.

-Carl